


Hermione's Choice

by themadmage



Series: Choices [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Voldemort Wins, Betrayal, Companion Piece, Death Eater Harry Potter, Gen, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), POV Hermione Granger, Reaction, Second War with Voldemort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 20:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15758697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themadmage/pseuds/themadmage
Summary: A companion piece to Choices; Harry's friends and the Order respond to the events of Summer 1997 and Hermione makes a choice. Covers chapters 21-27 of Choices.





	Hermione's Choice

_Harry couldn't really mean that he killed Headmaster Dumbledore,_ thought Hermione. When her best friend disappeared up to the boys' dorm and reappeared moments later in a Death Eater's mask, she was resolutely in denial.  _He only feels guilty that he couldn't save the Headmaster. He's sorry that he's keeping us out of the fight - and he should be. The mask is a disguise, or it was someone else._  Hermione managed to stay in denial until the full-body bind Harry had cast wore off, and she went up to her friends' dorm room to find each of the other Gryffindor boys petrified on the floor. Her thoughts ground to a halt as she stared, in such a state of shock that she couldn't even counter the spells on her year-mates. 

 

The tower was sealed shut by the time Hermione thought to try to leave, so she sat with Ron in the common room. Harry would come back, wouldn't he? There would be some sort of explanation. As the night wore on, Hermione was less convinced that something innocent was happening, but still hoped Harry would return. When Professor Flitwick came to unseal the tower and report on the school's losses - _Professor McGonagall was gone?_ \- and Harry did not return, Hermione found her shock and hope morphing into indigence. 

Harry had been her first close friend, and her best friend since. Clearly something was going on that he'd kept a secret, and if he was really a Death Eater maybe she didn't know him at all. Leaving his friends frozen in Gryffindor Tower without so much as an explanation was decidedly not acceptable behavior for her friend. 

In the morning when she woke, Hermione's indigence had become anger.  _How dare he leave without so much as a word to us?_   That evening, Hermione found Hedwig in the owlry and her heart ached. The note she sent off with the snowy owl was short - a single sentence demanding an answer to the million questions she had. She refused to consider the possibility that he wouldn't answer. 

 

Ron and Hermione hadn't gone to bed yet when Hedwig returned, though it was after midnight. The tapping on the common room window startled Hermione out of her brooding, and she untied the letter from Hedwig's leg. The snowy owl settled in on a perch in the corner while they read. 

Hermione snorted bitterly when Harry said he loved them, and her jaw dropped slightly after she verified the spellwork he said was on the letter. She knew then that whatever Harry was about to tell them was serious. As she read through the letter, a hole seemed to carve itself into her. How could Harry have been this desperate and no one had even noticed? How could he have been disappearing constantly and only caught once? As angry as she was at Harry's betrayal, she was also angry at herself and the rest of the Order. They should have been there for him before he got to this point. Hermione sat in the common room long after Ron left, thinking. She looked at Hedwig, wondering if she should write a response. Nothing she could say would be able to bridge this gap, though, so she sadly waved the owl away.

 

Two days later, following a memorial service for those who had fallen during the attack, Hermione and Ron found themselves at the Burrow. The Weasley's home was being warded to serve as a new Headquarters since Grimmauld Place was no longer safe. For the first time, the teens were allowed to sit in on a meeting. Bill was leading the meeting. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Moody were all gone in one way or another. So was Harry. 

"Does anyone know what actually happened? How we lost him?" Ron and Hermione both nodded silently. After a moment, they were prompted further. "Care to share?"

Hermione could actually feel the tongue-tying curse threaten. Between that and the raging emotions, she choked out only one word. "Can't."

Several Order members got angry at that, assuming that 'can't' meant 'won't'. Ron stepped in. "We're under a tongue-tying curse, and the letter he sent us is heavily protected." Hermione remembered telling Ron once that he had the emotional range of a teaspoon. Maybe things would be easier for her now if she did, too. Anger, hurt, betrayal, guilt, denial, and grief swirled around in her mind.

"See if you can break the enchantments on the letter, then. Any information would help." Bill said. Hermione could only nod.

"I also got a letter, but mine wasn't very informative," Professor Lupin added. "There aren't any protections on it. All it said was that I shouldn't fight because he bargained for my safety."

 

It took two weeks for Hermione and Ron to break through the enchantment that kept anyone from reading the letter. Hermione didn't feel like the brightest witch of her age anymore, between not seeing what was happening with Harry and then not being able to break a single charm. Still, once they did it they took it to the next Order meeting.

"No one touch the letter or point your wand at it. It'll combust. I don't know if the tongue-tying curse is keyed just to me and Ron or if it's keyed to anyone who reads this, so be prepared." Everyone nodded their agreement, and Hermione put the letter on the table in front of Bill. When he looked up from it, she slid it to the next person. This continued until everyone present had read the letter.

Tonks spoke up first. "Did he really feel-" the choking began. The tongue-tying curse was on all of them, then. 

"We need to find out the full text of the prophecy," Bill interjected. If they couldn't discuss the letter, then they would have to move on to their next steps. "We need to know if there's any way to interpret it that doesn't require Harry to kill Voldemort."

"But the proph-" Ron started choking. Once it stopped, he picked up his teacup and smashed it, then pointed at it stubbornly before repairing it. 

A defeated sigh escaped Bill's lips. No one else had anything to say that wouldn't be blocked by the curse, so the meeting was dismissed.

 

When the Ministry fell, the Order heard about it before it was through. With every Auror being summoned to defend the Minister, Tonks was able to pass on the news that they'd failed. She was lucky enough to be one of the survivors, and had sent word to Bill from St. Mungo's. Hermione immediately pulled Ron and Professor Lupin into a room. 

"I think I need to leave Britain."

" _What?_ " Ron burst out. Professor Lupin only nodded, looking unsurprised.

"It's about to get very unsafe to be Muggle-born. Voldemort wouldn't have attacked the Ministry like this if he wasn't planning to take it over, and even if I don't fight I'll still be subject to any laws Voldemort's Ministry passes."

"Where will you go?" Professor Lupin asked.

"I was thinking about moving to America, Professor. I've already sent an application to Ilvermorny to finish my education."

"I'm not your professor, Hermione. Call me Remus."

Hermione smiled as if to say 'I can't do that, Professor.' 

"But we've got to fight!" Ron said, still visibly shocked.

"I don't think we can win, Ron. The Order hasn't been able to come up with a single step to take in the last month, Harry is a Death Eater, and Voldemort has both Hogwarts and the Ministry. I feel like the worst Gryffindor for running, but I want to feel safe, and I want my family to be safe too. I'm going to convince my parents to sell their practice and move with me. And I was wondering if either of the two of you would come, too."

Both men were silent for a few moments. Professor Lupin broke it first. "I can't, Hermione. Even in the old Ministry, international travel is restricted for werewolves. MACUSA is strict about immigration, and I can't do it legally."

"What are you going to do, Professor?"

Professor Lupin shook his head, whether it was at the title or her question was anyone's guess. "I don't know yet. But leaving isn't a possibility for me."

"Ron?"

"You want your family safe, and I want mine. But they'll never decide to leave, so I've got to stay to protect them if I can."

Hermione nodded sadly at him before standing up. "I've got to pack. Who knows how long I have to get out of the country." She paused sadly. "Goodbye."

 

Hermione packed her bags with a spell, despite that she usually preferred to do it by hand, and apparated directly to her parents' house. Time was of the essence. She hurriedly explained to her parents that Voldemort was winning the war, she'd been betrayed by her closest friend, and nowhere in Britain would be safe. They listened to her in stunned silence.

"America?"

"Yes. There's a school there where I can finish my education, and Voldemort has never tried to go beyond the UK. Even if he expands, it'll be into Europe. America should be safe. Or Australia, but I couldn't go to school there. Please, come with me. I can't lose the two of you. I can't not know if my best friend has murdered my parents."

The Grangers looked at each other, having a silent conversation, before her mother spoke. "We'll apply for Visas. You go, before it's too late. We should have enough time to sell the house and the practice and arrange for the move. We'll meet you in America. Where will you be living?"

"Ilvermorny is in Massachusetts. I could go there from anywhere in America, but I figure I may as well live close to the school."

Her parents nodded, clearly restraining their emotions. Hermione hugged them fiercely. "Stay safe, please." she whispered.

 

Entering America illegally was a bad plan. Professor Lupin hadn't been kidding when he said MACUSA was strict. The British Ministry wasn't an option, so Hermione apparated to France. It took several jumps and it was exhausting. Once there, she got a room in a pub near the French Ministry and waited for morning.

When Hermione received the  _Daily Prophet_ the next morning, she knew she'd made the right choice. Arranging a Portkey through the French Ministry as a British citizen was a struggle, but by evening Hermione had managed it. Her Portkey was the next morning, and she spent the entire following day in customs in the American Ministry. 

Hermione bought a Muggle house in Salem, chuckling at the irony, then immediately set up a phone. The international call to tell her parents she was safe and where to find her was expensive, but no one from the Magical world would be able to track it and it was much faster than sending an owl. 

 

It was almost a month later, days before the start of term at Ilvermorny, when Hermione's parents finally entered America and she could breathe again.

 


End file.
